Dominik Fischnaller posted the fastest time in both runs Sunday to win the World Cup luge season opener for his first victory on the circuit.
Fischnaller had a track-record time of 49.172 seconds in his opening run and was two one-thousandths of a second away from matching that time in his second heat. His overall time was 1 minute, 38.346 seconds -- 0.146 seconds ahead of Germany's David Moller (1:38.492).
Reigning world and Olympic champion Felix Loch of Germany (1:38.497) took third.
Chris Mazdzer of Saranac Lake, N.Y. was the top American finisher, placing 14th in 1:39.040.
The series resumes next weekend in Igls, Austria.
Fischnaller was seventh in the World Cup standings last season, winning a silver medal in Lake Placid and a bronze at Konigssee. But Sunday was a breakout performance for the Italian, and marked just the third time in the last 19 World Cup races that a German man did not finish in the top spot.
Armin Zoeggeler of Italy was fourth and was followed by a pair of Austrian sliders, Wolfgang Kindl and Daniel Pfister.
Aidan Kelly of West Islip, N.Y. (1:39.171) finished 21st for the Americans, after being eighth-fastest in the opening run of the day.
Other U.S. sliders in the field included Joe Mortensen of Huntington Station, N.Y. (1:39.621), Taylor Morris of South Jordan, Utah (1:39.683) and Tucker West of Ridgefield, Conn. (1:39.821), who placed 26th through 28th, respectively.
